Chicagoland Soccer Top 25
By Patrick Z. McGavin
This is it.
The final Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 marks the formal transition to the next stage of the season.
Class A completed its regional championships last weekend, and those 32 champions move on to the sectional phase.
Now, the larger schools join the movement.
For the first time since 2019, the boys season has conformed to its traditional model of one fall season of competition.
The biggest moment of the final week of the regular-seasons of Class AA and 3A came in Naperville Central’s 4-0 dismantling of previously undefeated Romeoville. That left three teams without a loss: top-ranked Elgin; no. 2 and defending Class 3A state champion York; and no. 5 Stevenson.
Twenty-two of the final teams ranked in this poll are from Class 3A. The highest-ranked AA team for the entire season, Grayslake Central, is the highest rated of the mid-sized schools.
City champion Solorio enters the Top 25 from the Class AA Super 7 poll.
Defending Class A state champion Wheaton Academy is the other program outside of Class 3A to make the final poll.
Top-seeded Elgin is the only program in the Hampshire Sectional ranked in the poll.
Otherwise, the area sectionals have multiple representatives.
Lockport has four teams (Romeoville, Sandburg, Stagg, Bloom). Hinsdale Central matches that number (Morton, Lyons, Benet, Red Devils).
Interestingly, Buffalo Grove also has four — though the seedings severely conflict with the poll numbers. Stevenson and Warren have been a fairly constant ranked presence since the beginning of the season. Fremd started high and dropped out after a tough stretch. The Vikings now return following their Mid-Suburban League Soccer Cup victory over Elk Grove.
The outlier is Round Lake, which is seeded at an undervalued ninth. The Panthers tied Lyons in their first game of the season in the opening round of the Northside College Showcase on Aug. 27. Since the night of the seeding process (Sept. 22), the Panthers have gone 7-0-1, given 2021 state finalist Grayslake Central its only loss, tied Stevenson and defeated Evanston.
St. Patrick has finished on a roll, with six-straight wins including a dominant victory over Benet. That streak began at the end of a run of 12-games in 19 days in three states. The Shamrocks took a share of the East Suburban Catholic Conference with Benet and Notre Dame.
The Northwest Side school is just a couple of years removed from winning two state trophies in a three-year stretch and is an extremely dangerous no. 12 in the Glenbrook South Sectional.
Bolingbrook has three ranked representatives in Naperville Central, Naperville North and Plainfield North.
The state tournament is the ultimate Darwinian action that will separate the best teams. Upsets are almost certain to happen.
Following the conclusion of the AA and 3A state championships on the first week of November, Chicagoland Soccer will publish our Final 50 poll, the bookend to the First 50 and a final authoritative ranking of the top teams in the state regardless of size or region.
Until then, the discussions — and corresponding arguments — can begin. Just don't forget to get out there and enjoy playoff soccer.
Editor's note: Solorio moves into the poll after being ranked sixth in the Class AA Super 7 last week.
By Patrick Z. McGavin
This is it.
The final Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 marks the formal transition to the next stage of the season.
Class A completed its regional championships last weekend, and those 32 champions move on to the sectional phase.
Now, the larger schools join the movement.
For the first time since 2019, the boys season has conformed to its traditional model of one fall season of competition.
The biggest moment of the final week of the regular-seasons of Class AA and 3A came in Naperville Central’s 4-0 dismantling of previously undefeated Romeoville. That left three teams without a loss: top-ranked Elgin; no. 2 and defending Class 3A state champion York; and no. 5 Stevenson.
Twenty-two of the final teams ranked in this poll are from Class 3A. The highest-ranked AA team for the entire season, Grayslake Central, is the highest rated of the mid-sized schools.
City champion Solorio enters the Top 25 from the Class AA Super 7 poll.
Defending Class A state champion Wheaton Academy is the other program outside of Class 3A to make the final poll.
Top-seeded Elgin is the only program in the Hampshire Sectional ranked in the poll.
Otherwise, the area sectionals have multiple representatives.
Lockport has four teams (Romeoville, Sandburg, Stagg, Bloom). Hinsdale Central matches that number (Morton, Lyons, Benet, Red Devils).
Interestingly, Buffalo Grove also has four — though the seedings severely conflict with the poll numbers. Stevenson and Warren have been a fairly constant ranked presence since the beginning of the season. Fremd started high and dropped out after a tough stretch. The Vikings now return following their Mid-Suburban League Soccer Cup victory over Elk Grove.
The outlier is Round Lake, which is seeded at an undervalued ninth. The Panthers tied Lyons in their first game of the season in the opening round of the Northside College Showcase on Aug. 27. Since the night of the seeding process (Sept. 22), the Panthers have gone 7-0-1, given 2021 state finalist Grayslake Central its only loss, tied Stevenson and defeated Evanston.
St. Patrick has finished on a roll, with six-straight wins including a dominant victory over Benet. That streak began at the end of a run of 12-games in 19 days in three states. The Shamrocks took a share of the East Suburban Catholic Conference with Benet and Notre Dame.
The Northwest Side school is just a couple of years removed from winning two state trophies in a three-year stretch and is an extremely dangerous no. 12 in the Glenbrook South Sectional.
Bolingbrook has three ranked representatives in Naperville Central, Naperville North and Plainfield North.
The state tournament is the ultimate Darwinian action that will separate the best teams. Upsets are almost certain to happen.
Following the conclusion of the AA and 3A state championships on the first week of November, Chicagoland Soccer will publish our Final 50 poll, the bookend to the First 50 and a final authoritative ranking of the top teams in the state regardless of size or region.
Until then, the discussions — and corresponding arguments — can begin. Just don't forget to get out there and enjoy playoff soccer.
Editor's note: Solorio moves into the poll after being ranked sixth in the Class AA Super 7 last week.
Rk | LW | Team | W | L | T | Comment |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Elgin | 16 | 0 | 3 | Top-seed at Hampshire |
2 | 2 | York | 15 | 0 | 3 | Top-seed at St. Charles East |
3 | 3 | Naperville C | 19 | 3 | 1 | Top-seed at Bolingbrook |
4 | 4 | Morton | 18 | 2 | 0 | No. 2-seed at Hinsdale Central |
5 | 6 | Stevenson | 16 | 0 | 3 | Top-seed at Buffalo Grove |
6 | 7 | New Trier | 15 | 1 | 4 | Top-seed at Glenbrook South |
7 | 8 | Naperville N | 14 | 3 | 4 | No. 2-seed at Bolingbrook |
8 | 5 | Romeoville | 22 | 1 | 1 | No. 3-seed at Lockport |
9 | 9 | Sandburg | 16 | 1 | 3 | Top-seed at Lockport |
10 | 10 | OPRF | 14 | 3 | 0 | No. 3-seed at Glenbrook South |
11 | 11 | Plainfield N | 18 | 4 | 1 | No. 3-seed at Bolingbrook |
12 | 13 | St. Charles E | 16 | 3 | 3 | No. 2-seed at own sectional |
13 | 14 | Grayslake C | 13 | 1 | 3 | Top-seed at own AA sectional |
14 | 15 | Conant | 17 | 4 | 1 | No. 3-seed at St. Charles East |
15 | 12 | Lyons | 13 | 5 | 3 | Top-seed at Hinsdale Central |
16 | 16 | Stagg | 18 | L | T | No. 2-seed at Lockport |
17 | 18 | Benet | 12 | 4 | 1 | No. 3-seed at Hinsdale Central |
18 | HM | Fremd | 13 | 5 | 2 | No. 5-seed at Buffalo Grove |
19 | 24 | Hinsdale C | 13 | 4 | 1 | No. 4-seed at own sectional |
20 | 25 | Warren | 14 | 4 | 2 | No. 2-seed at Buffalo Grove |
21 | 17 | Bloom | 18 | 5 | 2 | No. 5-seed at Lockport |
22 | 22 | St. Patrick | 12 | 7 | 4 | No. 12-seed at Glenbrook South |
23 | AA6 | Solorio | 16 | 3 | 0 | No. 2-seed at AA St. Laurence |
24 | HM | Round Lake | 11 | 3 | 3 | No. 9-seed at Buffalo Grove |
25 | 23 | Wheaton A | 12 | 4 | 3 | Subsectional top-seed at own A sectional |
Look out for: Taft, Lane, West Aurora, Lockport, Notre Dame, Niles North, Young, Elk Grove, Evanston, Lake Zurich, Oswego East, Glenbrook North, Vernon Hills, Joliet West, Glenbard East.
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